•Cassidy
"It's hot as balls outside today," Calum complains, wiping his lingering sweat off of the top of his forehead with the back of his hand.
We were both sitting outside on our back porch, which we rarely ever used, overlooking the serene ocean that was continuously crashing against the grainy sand. I made Calum and I some grilled cheese sandwiches, or cheese toasties, or whatever name they had been given, and we were both nibbling away at them underneath the sweltering sun's rays.
"Well it's almost the end of July in Los Angeles. What did you expect?" I asked, kind of teasing him and kind of curious as to why this hot weather was coming as such a surprise.
"I don't know," Calum answered nonchalantly, swallowing a large bite of his sandwich. "But I do know that I have a large urge to go hide in the freezer right now."
I smiled as a gust of wind tickled the tops of our bare legs, just gently cooling us down for a brief second. I stretched my legs out wide, removing them from their previous crossed position, and pointed and flexed my foot to provide some movement to my muscles before they fell asleep.
"Do you want to go swimming?" I suggested, nodding towards the empty private beach that had no one occupying the waters.
"No," Calum responded firmly and quickly, as if he dreaded the thought of his body being surrounded by salt water. "Why don't we go to the ice rink today?"
"Why would we do that?" I questioned, looking at him in complete shock. He used to always hate ice-skating.
"Because it's cold as hell in there and that's a cliché first date, right?" Calum tried, standing up from his seat next to me and gripping onto my hand. "Come on, Cass. I'm trying to be romantic here."
•*•*•
Ice skates that were a bit too snug constricted around my feet. I could feel the formation of blisters on the back of my heels as the leather and my thick socks rubbed against my skin. I laced the skates up tightly before wobbling over towards the edge of the rink where Calum was leaning against.
"My feet hurt," He whined, linking his arm with mine as we stepped out onto the slippery ice.
I clutched onto him to help keep my balance. I used to love ice skating when I was little, but I haven't done this at all since I moved out to LA. Usually I would spend my days swimming or visiting the beach instead.
"Mine too," I agreed, as we began to trail along the tops of the ice. The cold air whipped against my face, making my nose turn pink and making me wish I had worn a heavier coat.
Calum was struggling to stay up straight, meaning that I had to be the one to tug him along. "Wow I found something that Calum is actually not good at!" I exclaimed, giggling softly.
He bumped me with his hip, causing me to stumble a bit, but I latched onto him rapidly before I could actually fall. "Shut up. I'll be a pro in no time."
"Whatever you say," I sang sarcastically, rolling my eyes at him.
While we were in the midst of trying to get us both to skate in sync without nearly tripping every few seconds, a group of girls strolled up to us. I had a feeling this was going to happen, especially since this was a public place that was crawling with tweens, but it still caused my chest to thump with nerves.
"Calum!" One of the girls, clad in a red pea-coat with light brown hair that sported the side-swept bangs hair-do, called out. She looked about fourteen, maybe a little younger or a little older, and she had that look of pure excitement covering her freckled face. "Can I get a picture with you?"
"Yeah, sure," Calum obliged, letting go of me for a second to bend down to get in her selfie. Her face lit up with joy as her two other friends waited to get a picture of their own, without even murmuring a sound.
"Hi Cassidy," The brunette greeted, finally acknowledging my presence after she had gotten her sacred picture.
"Hi! Are you girls having fun ice skating?" I asked politely, trying to formulate some kind of conversation to get rid of the awkwardness.
She nodded. "We are now! I just met Calum Hood!"
Calum laughed after he finished the last picture, and returned to his spot next to me. I wasn't offended or bothered by the fact that they didn't want a picture with me. And I was also used to the way girls have always drooled over Calum. So this exchange really wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
"So are you his girlfriend now?" The same girl asked me, while the other two friends stood there in awe and tried to sneak some more candid pictures of us.
I wasn't sure if I was supposed to tell people or not. The whole publicity thing always confused me. I guess honesty was the best policy, but at the same time I didn't want to start a new controversy in the media. Obviously people already had speculations since we have been photographed together a lot recently, but confirming it just felt odd.
"Uh, yeah," I replied shyly, glimpsing at Calum to make sure it was okay. He nodded.
The girl seemed absolutely appalled. She snapped her head towards Calum instantly. "Ew, why would you want to date that slut?"
I choked.
"Excuse me?" Calum yelled aggressively, his temper getting the best of him again. I dug my nails into his bicep to try and get him to stop, before he lunged at the prepubescent girl. "Are you fuc-"
"Calum," I scolded, stopping him from lashing out cuss words at his fan.
"No, this is ridiculous. You don't say things like this to people! Especially when they are standing right here! Jesus. How would you feel if someone you didn't know called you a slut to your face?" Calum practically growled.
The girl, and her friends, were dumbfounded. "Well, I'm sorry but if she didn't want to be hated then she wouldn't have dated you."
"Do you honestly think I care about hate? Why would I not date the guy I like, the guy I've known my entire life, just because some people I don't even know don't approve of it?" I questioned, making her lips begin to quiver in fear. "Calum is happy. That should be your main concern. Remember that."
I wheeled him away from those teens. Calum was still fuming. He was muttering profanities under his breath, shaking his head back and forth. "I'm so sorry, Cass! Jesus, that should have never happened," Calum shouted angrily, his nostrils flaring with rage. "Don't listen to what they said. You're not a slut."
I couldn't help but laugh. I had never been the type to get personally upset over false accusations I see everyday on the media. It was more concerning that those girls had the audacity to call me that right in front of me, instead of at least waiting until I skated away to talk about me behind my back.
I leaned my head against his shoulder as we skimmed across the ice with a bit more speed and ease this time. "It's okay, Cal. I'm fine. I obviously know I'm not a slut. I've only had sex once so their definition is a little off."
Calum's head whipped around quickly, staring at me with wide eyes. "Wait, you never- you didn't do it with anyone else?"
I raised my eyebrows at him in confusion. "Well, no. I was too scared. And I was so busy with my career I never really had time to date anyone."
Calum exhaled heavily, licking his lips. "Oh my God. I messed you up so bad," Calum declared, as he gulped at loud enough volume that I could hear it. "I feel so guilty now."
I frowned instantly, picking up his arm and wrapping it around my shoulder as we completed another loop around the rink. "Hey, don't feel guilty. I let go of the past. I've forgiven you. Now it's time for you to forgive yourself."
"I don't know if I can, Cass. I can't believe I spent all those years chasing girls and partying and you were still so affected by what happened. I should have made a better effort to fix things. I can't believe I hurt you. I'm such an idiot."
"Calum," I spoke quietly, bringing our skating to a halt and turning to face him. "Stop beating yourself up over this. The past is the past and we can't change that. We can only change our future. So let's move on and just focus on being together."
"Okay." Calum pressed his lips onto my forehead like he always did, igniting those butterflies like it always does. "I've never been in love, Cass. But I really hope it's you who I fall for."
I smiled, feeling an overwhelming sense of happiness creep into my chest. I grasped both of his hands and pulled him back into motion, but apparently I must have pulled too hard.
Calum lost his balance and tripped over the blade, making him land flat on his face in the middle of the rink. I cupped a hand over my mouth to stop myself from laughing at his clumsiness, and all of the other people on the rink turned to glare at us.
He dusted himself off with a huff, shooting me daggers with his eyes as I continued to giggle. Calum wrapped his arms around me, smothering my body against his chest, as he skated off to the side, eager to get the attention off of the two of us.
"Look's like you're falling over me already!" I teased, causing him to groan underneath his breath at my attempt at being funny. "Maybe our vacation to Australia wasn't your only trip-"
"Shut the hell up," Calum grumbled, rapidly cupping his hands around my cold face and colliding his lips against mine to get me to stop talking.
It worked.
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author's note: wow this chapter is just like my old tweets from years ago-- makes me cringe
idk im rlly bad at fillers but lets just take this chapter as a lesson for how not to treat the girlfriends any of the boys may get in the future sometime bc as long as they are happy we should be happy just keep ur jealousy inside ok its nice to be nice :))
im mainly saying that so when calum and i start datin i dont have to deal with people bein bitchess to me lmao !
anyways ya im really bad at filler chapters so if anyone has any suggestions or ideas or predictions can u pretty please comment them here it always helps my brain and its fun to read you guys are super creative
thank you all so much for reading this i love you all have a fantastic day bc you deserve it
also thank u for 20k followers thats so many people omg hsfuicma hi
dedicated to linkinparkluke (nice user btw) for sayin that she feels like she has a fam with this book bc everyone is so nice anD AW ME TOO I AGREE SO MUCH WE ARE ALL SO CUTE AND I LOVE U